Sir, – Ivana Bacik (Letters, August 3rd) accepts that our law continues to penalise brothel keeping but states that this applies to those engaged in organised prostitution or pimping.
In fact, the overwhelming majority of those prosecuted under this law are sex workers sharing premises for safety reasons. A recent example was the two young Romanian women (one of them pregnant) who were convicted in June in Co Kildare and sentenced to nine months in prison.
Given that the vast majority of the sex trade now takes place indoors, supporters of the law simply cannot continue to point to the removal of penalties for street solicitation as if this achieved real decriminalisation of people who sell sex. The failure of Senator Bacik and others to address the real-life consequences of our punitive approach to the issue suggests either a wilful denial to face the truth or a lack of genuine concern for the women affected by it. – Yours, etc,
WENDY LYON,
Dublin 1.